pte

y, hoping no one noticed

gh

one's self in public. No one around me seemed to have noticed. My gaze darted towards the par

and took a deep breath. I turned my mind towards the spirt I could still feel next to me. He was waiting expectantly as most of the spirits I encountered did. It was as if the dead were drawn to me and truly wanted to know what they

y useful, but who knew when a mandatory high s

mes the card sharp, I foc

nd that exhaling as I spoke seemed to help. Beside me the man brightened, both figuratively and literally. My power turned to him as I noticed him, making his outline a little sharper. The tightness i

lightly at his frank appraisal and shifted my sight to a rack of hanging garments. I used my turn to glance over my shoulder. Mr. N

me he's with you?" the spirit said

o him. 'He's following me, but no

ho the replacement is

t y

might know how to help. You continue with your shopping, darling, a

t to a cemetery to speak to the dead, unless I was working with Swift, in which case Dr. Harding's morgue was the typical destination. Either way, spirits typically didn't wander far from thei

down the hill from the cemetery, but it was outside its limits. I wasn't in control of my abilities then and once she made my acquaintanc

I actively called them or not, at least according to the few lessons I managed to make it through in the Mat

s seeing. The dead almost always appeared in black and white rather than the full color of reality. The only exceptions were the

dies just had yet to be discovered. I smiled and stepped away from the rack of cl

of us. It was one of the good homes and that was a nearly perfect day. The briny sea air blew lightly keeping the sun from being too hot as we raced from wac

to think about him and enjoyed my day. The next day, I saw his face on a news cast. His body was found in one of the dumpsters that lined the backs of the buildings. I didn'

time for us. She promised that once she was better they would come back for us. I never saw them again. I didn't know if it

arby, he was dumped several decades prior. At the moment it wouldn't look good for me to discover whatever was left of his remains. It wouldn't even look good if such remains were found while I was in the vicinity. Given the age of his

each week would help me out. Then when I am no longer being

ite certain who I would send the message to in the first place. In the process of finding out where Lenny's body was concealed, something might occu

rangement, I suppose I've found m

much less noticeable. I shrugged, knowing I could adapt. 'And as a bonus, at

caught them following me at a later point in time. Of course as long as I remained shopping, there wouldn't be anything they could actually

I didn't have m

y to be annoyed rather than freaked out. 'And if they did catch me I could just not do anything when t

decided to

w would torture me? Passing me off for someone else to torture seemed like the more likely scenario, but would Swift do it? Sadl

ns floated through my head. 'Scared and angry both lead to mistakes.

nd the woman to follow me around in the first place since I knew they had a woman with them. Most women tended to freak out when they spott

over a long fainting couch. It was pretty, or it would be once reupholstere

lt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I pulled the phone out and checked the screen. Spotting R

ck in the morning. As his job at the club kept him up until t

d sounding disgusted with himsel

ing a fainting couch to practice my r

couch, " he told me. "It makes you look elegant in

fe, " I told him with a laugh. "Besides the odds

ed to assist in a fainting couch

knowing he wanted someth

r too suspicious, especially for thi

nt of suspicious, " I replie

lucky enough that it is t

smiled and shook my head. While Ricky was many things; fun, gregarious and willing to take dow

ld me. "However, I had to

. While many of my garments were used on stage, when people came to see me for fittings and ordering they wore everyday clothes and often went by the names o

" I asked, now certain I kn

now the Gala

y creations had. I knew it involved some sort of awards ceremony, dancing and many, many ball gowns. Last year, the Gala helpe

ideas and how I was going to bring them to you e

d him. As he talked my eyes scanned the

teal my ideas." As Ricky launched into his reasoning for suspecting his frienemy's

re Suit Lenny and potential agents in disguise, I was not prepared for what I was seeing. At le

ing in my apartment building was one thing, and, in theory, could be construed as accidental by Swift and the powers that he served. I knew if